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City Island

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At times, City Island (referring to a quaint little island off New York City's Bronx borough where the film is set) seems like a Martin Scorsese-directed episode of Married ... With Children, minus all the crass double entendres. There are plenty of vulgar misunderstandings to go around, but the premise is that nothing's as bad as it looks, even if corrections officer Vince Rizzo (Andy Garcia) meets his unacknowledged son while guarding him in prison; his daughter secretly works as a stripper; and his son is discovering a fetish for obese women. But in sweeter irony, Vince is moonlighting at acting classes (as a Marlon Brando wannabe), settling for wife Joyce's (Julianna Margulies) suspicion that he's having an affair. Vince invites Greek tragedy into his home when he introduces Tony to everyone without mentioning that he's family. Joyce naturally settles on him as a good target for a counter-affair to punish Vince for his secretive ways. The plot twists are clever, the pacing fast and the raciness just outrageous enough to propel the light-hearted comedy without toppling it. — Will Coviello